Kappius, the brand that makes the cut-out carbon fiber shelled hubs with a minute 1.5° of engagement thanks to a 60-tooth ring and eight pawls in four pairs of phased engagement, has a new hub design that’ll work with standard, unaltered cassettes.
The original KH-1 requires alteration of the cassette to fit the massive bearing size of the drive side. It pushes a huge bearing really far out for better stiffness, but requires a big financial commitment to hack the cassette. The new KH-2 moves the oversized bearing inboard enough to make room for a standard 11-speed or XX1 free hub.
The KH-2 is getting going on Kickstarter, with early backers getting the rear hub for $450 in a limited edition color. Standard retail will be $499. You can also back the project for $950 and get the KH-1 with either a XX, XX1 or SRAM Red cassette included, even 11-speed if you don’t mind waiting a bit.
The rear hub weighs in at about 320g, give or take about 15g depending on free hub choice.
Other KS backing options include complete wheels, skewers, front hubs and more.
